Rio de Janeiro – Industrial employment in Brazil dropped 0.4% in March as against February and presented reduction of 1.2% over the same period in 2011, the sixth consecutive drop this year in the same comparison. The figures are part of the Monthly Industrial Research on Employment and Salaries (Pimes) disclosed on Friday (11) by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE). This year, the index has accumulated a reduction of 0.8% over the same period in 2011.
In a comparison between March this year and the same month in 2011, the number of workers dropped in nine of the 14 areas studied. São Paulo presented the worst result (-3.2%), with negative rates in 14 of the 18 sectors researched. The main reductions took place in the metal product industry (-14.3%) and in electronic and communications equipment and devices (-8.3%).
Still according to the IBGE, the Northeast suffered a 2.4% reduction in industrial occupation, and the largest retraction was in the sectors of garments (-8.9%), shoes and leather (-6.7%) and textile (-11.7%). The result in Santa Catarina (-1.4%) was pushed by lower employment in the lumber sector (-15.3%), garments (-3.5%), metal products (-9.1%) and shoes and leather (-15.6%).
*Translated by Mark Ament
